


Things We'll Never Say

by rizanicole



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, I like to think this happened at some point, Levi-centric, No Spoilers, Sort Of Fluff, canonverse, one vague reference to Levi's past, they deserve five seconds of happiness damn it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:35:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29883282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rizanicole/pseuds/rizanicole
Summary: Levi gives Petra a ring. It’s not quite what she had always imagined.
Relationships: Levi Ackerman & Petra Ral, Levi Ackerman/Petra Ral
Kudos: 31





	Things We'll Never Say

He knew the minute he saw them that he was going to steal one.

They were down and across the street from the rooftop he was perched on, not at all in the direction he was supposed to be going. The commander was going to give the signal from the front of their group at any second. The soldiers, currently fanned out in a diamond-shaped pattern across four rooftops, would rush towards the center of the city and execute a precisely-timed mission they’d been planning for a week. He needed to be ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.

But there they were, as if in defiance of that plan, pulling his attention away from the mission. Precious stones in the shop window glittered in the morning sunlight. Such items were exceedingly rare outside of the capital, but he knew what they were, of course. If he hadn’t known, the sign above the small shop surely would have tipped him off.

“ _Heinrich Family Jewelers_ ”

He found his mind flashing back to multiple conversations he’d overheard during the past several months. To thoughts of a soldier who, he was told, kept a not-so-secret stash of romance novels next to her bed. To a person who gushed over the idea of fairy tale endings, despite the wretched world they’d inherited. To someone who insisted on staying optimistic.

To an ally who’d recently started letting cracks of doubt show, despite her best efforts to hide them, as the Corps’ progress was stalled again and again.

Levi scowled. It wasn’t right. Even if her fanciful interests had no practical use, they needed the foolish optimist, if only for the sake of morale. Perhaps something from the boutique’s display would help bring her back to herself.

With that thought, he found himself turning fully towards the shop. This was hardly something to break formation for—it was _definitely_ not something to break and enter for—but he took a few steps towards the edge of the rooftop, all the same. The sound of boot soles thumping softly over the tiles alerted the person closest by.

“Levi.” Hange hissed from his right, sounding alarmed. She’d turned only her head towards him, the rest of her form taut, as though she were waiting at the starting line of a footrace. “What are you doing?“

He simply waved her off, unconcerned, and silently pitched himself down into the empty street. There wasn’t anyone around. The Church had called everyone to the city center today, so the civilians were gone and the stores were all closed. The high priests were clearly starting to feel threatened after certain recent events, which made them all the more unpredictable and dangerous. Believer or not, no one with any sense would want to be caught defying their orders.

That made it almost too easy, he mused, as he crossed to the building. It’d been a while since he’d stolen anything. Most of his thefts had been much more difficult, for items of far less value, albeit much greater practicality. What a different world this was from the underground, that the shop owner felt they could display such things so prominently, with so little security. Ridiculous. They would probably be changing that policy after today.

He tried the door handle first, not being one to make a mess if it wasn’t necessary, even if this _was_ the capital. No such luck. He heaved a sigh. With no other recourse, Levi unsheathed a sword, turned it around in his hand, and smashed the hilt through the display window. The thin glass gave way easily under the impact, and the shattering sound seeming to echo in the silent street. With the area being deserted, it hardly mattered. 

He could hear his teammates trying to get his attention in hushed tones from the rooftops now, but chose to ignore them. After a moment of indecision, scanning his eyes over the wares, he reached down carefully into the broken glass to pluck a single ring from the back of the display. He pocketed it, making sure it was secure. Turning back to face his companions, Levi let one of his cables loose, and in a few quick movements, was back in his assigned position.

At the front, he could see Erwin standing in a “ready” position similar to Hange’s. The man twisted his head around to fix Levi with a confused look. The corporal simply gazed back at him, giving no indication that anything was amiss. Erwin turned back around after a few moments. He had more pressing matters to attend to, after all, and at least Levi was back where he was supposed to be. 

“What was that?!” Hange whispered from beside him, seemingly amused now. Levi simply shrugged, not facing her in favor of looking ahead. He didn’t have the time or way with words to explain it, but one of his squad members, who was currently on the opposite edge of their formation, needed this item.

Just then, from somewhere towards the city center, a trumpet sounded. Hange was still looking at him expectantly, eyebrows raised slightly behind her glasses.

“Nothing to worry about,” he muttered dismissively, shifting as he prepared to move again when the commander gave the signal. “Just focus on the mission.” 

Erwin threw an arm into the air, giving Levi the perfect excuse to bolt forward just in time to escape Hange’s prodding questions.

~~~

Their mission—raiding the Church’s offices for information on the walls during the pompous outdoor processional—was a success. They were able to confirm some suspicions, and also picked up a few entirely new bits of information during the process. They’d even managed to make it back over Wall Sina with zero casualties. In the Scout Regiment, it was all anyone could really hope for.

Predictably, Erwin had chewed Levi out for needlessly breaking formation after they returned to headquarters. Something about how he was supposed to be an example to the other soldiers and couldn’t just wander off alone to smash shop windows, blah, blah, blah. Much to the commander’s frustration, Levi made no move to explain his actions—knowing how valuable he was to the Corps meant he could be a real pain in the ass sometimes—and Erwin eventually dismissed him with a tired sigh.

A few weeks later, once his teammates’ interest in his strange actions had plenty of time to spread and then fade, he put his plan back into motion. Levi retrieved the ring from its hiding place in his wardrobe and placed it in his front uniform pocket again. It was only a couple of days before the opportunity he’d been waiting for presented itself.

“Oi, Petra.”

He’d found her dutifully mopping the kitchen floor during their afternoon chores. From the looks of the place, she was almost finished cleaning. The woman startled a bit at his voice and turned to face him. “Captain. I thought you were on laundry duty today.” She wiped an arm across her brow.

He paused in his steps and took a moment to observe her. Her eyes, though welcoming, seemed to be missing some of the brightness he’d grown accustomed to. Her voice was a bit less cheerful. He’d noticed the same qualities lacking before they left for the capital mission, and his forehead creased into a small frown.

“Finished already,” he said after a few seconds. It was a lie; he’d shirked the activity in favor of looking for her, but wasn’t about to say as much. He moved to lean against the counter, seeing that she’d already wiped it down, and crossed his arms.

“Ah, I see.” She returned the mop to its bucket for the moment and looked at him, waiting. When he made no response, she continued, trying to stay polite. “Is everything alright, sir?”

The emptiness of her tone pulled at something inside him. Even so, Levi suddenly found himself hesitating. He’d stolen the ring after fairly little thought, had no qualms about hiding his motives from the commander, and had even pawned off laundry duty to a fearful recruit and strode into the kitchen with his usual self-assurance. But now, with Petra’s gaze fixed on him, slight hollows under her eyes, all at once the whole idea seemed rather… silly. How was something like this going to turn her entire disposition around?

Having come too far to back out, he reasoned soon enough, Levi was determined not to let his thoughts show. He resisted letting his foot scuff against the floor. “I have something to give you,” he said casually. She frowned slightly, looking curious now. He pushed back off the counter, digging a hand into his pocket, and pulled out the piece of jewelry. Holding it between his thumb and forefinger, he flipped it at her like a coin before she could get a good look at it.

Petra caught the item between her clasped hands on reflex, then brought it close to examine it. She simply looked surprised for a moment, and then her face turned red upon realization.

“C-captain? What’s this?” Well, that nervous pitch wasn’t exactly back to her normal voice, but it was certainly better than the apathy that had been slowly creeping in.

“A ring, obviously.” He tried to sound bored, nearly succeeding as he pushed down the pointless nerves in his own stomach.

He watched her look it over, her hands holding it delicately. It was a gold band with a round, sparkling red stone mounted on it, held in place by six shiny prongs. It wasn’t the most elaborate ring he’d seen that day, but something had made him think she would like it the best. Where the intuition had come from, he had no idea.

“Why—” she broke off and swallowed hard, then met his eyes. He noticed hers were livelier than when he’d first come in. “Why are you giving this to me?” she asked quietly. It wasn’t something practical for a soldier to own. No one in the Corps had anything like it, as far as he knew. And besides, trinkets like this were typically reserved for the wealthy.

He answered her question with a shrug and a small, indifferent noise. “We all used to hear you going on and on about fairy tales and happily-ever-after nonsense to Hange and Nanaba. I don’t know _how_ they put up with that shit, honestly. You’ve been acting different lately, though.” He let his frown deepen. “I couldn’t very well steal a princess dress, but this seemed like something straight out of your ridiculous stories, so it should make you think of them again. Snap out of whatever it is that’s gotten into you and go back to being your usual weird self, damn it.” His words held next to no fire, but he could feel his pulse racing just a bit faster.

During his explanation, Petra’s face had only grown warmer. She pointed an accusing—slightly trembling—finger at him. “You always rolled your eyes and told me to stop talking about ‘worthless garbage.’”

He raised his nose in the air, on instinct, just the slightest bit. “Because it’s completely ridiculous to expect anything like that could happen in this world and you know it.”

“W-well, then why are you—”

“Do you like it?” He cut her off, not willing to answer whatever question she was trying to formulate.

“I… what?”

Levi took back control over his expression with a silent, steading breath, then gave her a deadpan look. He spoke slowly, drawing out each word. “Do, you, like, the, ring?”

She opened and closed her mouth, and looked back at the sparkling object she was clutching in one hand. She slipped it onto a finger—it appeared to fit, he noted distantly—and held it up, catching the light from the window over the kitchen sink. “Yes,” she said softly, voice gone faraway. “Yes, of course. It’s gorgeous.”

He felt something in his posture relax. He hadn’t even registered the tension in his shoulders, but she seemed to notice the change from the corner of her eye.

Petra brought her hand down and returned her full attention to him, thoughtful. “Thank you, Captain,” she said in the same gentle tone. It almost felt like she was looking through him, now, as if reading thoughts he wasn’t even fully aware of himself. He cast his eyes down, feeling much too vulnerable for his tastes. He tapped the toe of one boot against the floor and spoke in a low voice.

“Hm. Maybe it can appease your fairy tale fantasies. If you’re tired of this world for a while… well, hold on to that, and pretend we’re somewhere else.” 

He realized immediately that he’d said too much, gaze reflexively snapping back up to hers to meet her wide eyes. He cleared his throat, not very discreetly, and quickly reverted to his louder, droll tone. “Just don’t wear it in battle. You’ll get your damn hand stuck or a finger torn off or something. It’d be a pain for the rest of us to deal with.”

She nodded. Her face was still red, but her voice was steady, returned to normal to match his. “Of course.” He grunted in reply, not sure what else to say at that point, and shoved his hands into his pockets. He started to leave, but before he could get to the door, she called him back.

“Captain Levi.”

He turned back to face her, ignoring the way something had stirred in his chest when she said his name. “What?”

“I really do…” she was having trouble looking at him now, casting her eyes towards the mop bucket as she fiddled with the ring on her finger. “Just, erm… thank you.”

He let out a long sigh through his nose, before responding in an unguarded voice almost as soft as hers. “You’re welcome.”

~~~

He never did see it on her hand, after that first day. But a few months later, when they’d both been assigned stable duty, he learned where she’d been keeping it. She reached a hand just past her shirt collar and pulled out the ring, looped around a leather cord that was tied behind her neck. It let her wear it all the time without drawing attention, she explained. And there was no risk of losing her fingers this way. He had simply nodded, making some comment about being sure she didn’t get strangled by the necklace, either, and looked down at the muck at their feet to hide the small smile threatening to show on his face. He pretended not to hear her quiet giggle.

The stolen gift hadn’t magically stopped hard days or awful missions. It didn’t turn their world into a sunshine-filled paradise, free from ruthless tragedy and cutting losses. But perhaps, Levi thought, he’d given her something bright to hold onto. A tangible reminder that, in another version of this life, things weren’t so bad.

Levi heard Petra’s laugh in the dining hall more often again. During conversations in the common room, he noticed her voice had its cheerful lilt back. She was joking with their teammates and, every once in a while, smiling at him in a way that said she knew more than he thought she did. It was unnerving. It made him feel alive.

And, hell, all things considered, that made him as damn near happy as anything could.


End file.
